YouTube’d memories: Hotel California
When I answered the “favorite song” question in the Photobucket meme (see #9), I actually chose my number two song. I think it is called “the familiarity effect” in cognitive psychology – I listen to my CD compilation of favorite Beatles’ songs occasionally, while I don’t even have a CD compilation of favorite “assorted” songs. So, it’s been several years since I last heard Hotel California.
But it is undoubtedly my most-favorite English language song. I first heard it as a “bonus track” tacked onto the end of the cassette tape that introduced me to the Beatles (which must have been in ’85 or ’86), and both the guitar intro and the long riffs at the end sounded absolutely awesome.
The song felt as if it was some sort of anthem to a person with then-limited English vocabulary. A friend of mine turned up some nonsense that the term “Hotel California” referred to the American prison for political dissidents, which echoed the very popular шансон genre, and made the song sound even more appealing to all of us closet rebels… I eventually learned the words, and while it was impossible for me to interpret much beyond the clear indictment of decadence, it did not diminish my affection for the song.
I bought an Eagles CD years later, but weren’t much impressed with anything else they produced. In fact, I can only name one other song by the band. But I was pleased to learn that Hotel California is widely considered one of the best songs of all time.
The routes took me to heretofore unexplored parts of Bloomsbury and Holborn, with many architectural stunners and several pleasant squares. Some streets I had entirely to myself, while motorized traffic was largely non-existent. I lingered in the sun here and there, reading a magazine or watching infrequent passerby, and managed to kill almost four hours doing practically nothing. It could have been even longer, but many places on my circuit that I thought of checking out are closed on Sunday.
The athletic fever amongst the parents in our family has shifted. While the girls continue their pursuits in skating, swimming and trampolining, I have all but stopped going to the gym. Sad, but true.
I get my share of spam comment and trackback attempts, which are not at all visible to my faithful reader. Of the number of ways to prevent spam content from appearing on the website, I use “moderation”, which, for non-initiated, simply means that every comment submission goes through my explicit approval. Not the customer-friendliest approach, I’ll give you that, but it’s the most fool-proof one for extinguishing spam before it gets to the blog pages.
As an admitted fan of fantasy, I was very much looking forward to finally seeing Stardust. It did not disappoint. Engaging plot, a universe populated by well-developed characters, a healthy sprinkling of magic – it all comes together to serve as a wonderful stage to explore The Big Idea. Which happens to be not about an affirmation of some philosophical credo or a celebration of the triumph of good over evil, – make no mistake, the good does prevail! – but a simple lovely truth.
If your income consists of solely salary and wages, then filing a tax return in England is a very simple self-assessment process. Online or on paper, you literally need to provide just a handful of numbers from your W-2 equivalent (called P60), tick off a bunch of boxes, sign, and voilà, you’re done.